Most underrated band of all time?

[Melaszka]

On other threads, people often mention their other favourite bands, and names of little-known, long-forgotten gems crop up from time to time. It's a shame that so many great bands seem to get lost in the sands of time. So I thought I'd start a thread where people could nominate a band that never made the big time or got major critical acclaim, but really deserved to. Let's give them a belated moment of glory.

My nomination: the 80's indie band Furniture. They only had one top 40 hit, "Brilliant Mind", and had so few fans that they could manage to correspond regularly with most of them (I had some lovely letters from Jim), but those fans would have literally lain down their lives for them, they were so good.

[John Trevethan]

80's new wave band: Reflex - their only major hit was "Politics of Dancing", but what a great song. I thought that the rest of their debut album had plenty of excellent music... but they never took off. I remember them hosting a segment on MTV, and I saw them open for the Thompson Twins in Pittsburgh in the mid 80's.

70's prog rockers Happy The Man - incredible musicians who created a unique blend of classical and jazz elements. Keyboardist Kit Watkins has continued a long solo career making ambient music after the band split. (He is my favorite ambient artist ever.)

[Astronaut]

I love the "Politics of Dancing" Whatever happened to ...
Icehouse - "Hey Little Girl" (1982) - I loved the 12" remix of this - played it to death!
Beloved - "The Sun Rising" (1989) - what happened to them? I thought they were amazing and then they just kinda disappeared.
Enigma - "Sadness (part 1)" (1990) - a wee bit pretentious perhaps, but I really liked this at the time and I remember their debut album was very popular. Then, they too fell off the face of the planet! Where are you now?

[Astronaut]

Hey sorry it's me again, but I've just remembered the song "Brilliant Mind" (Furniture). Melaszka, you have great taste!

[Sylvie]

i know i go on about Talk Talk, but they are amazingly underrated. suppose they dont fit in here though, since they did get (some) critical acclaim and was quite successful during the eighties. today sadly forgotten however.

[John Trevethan]

I forgot the early 80's band The Producers - they played the MTV New Year's Eve show in 1982 (or maybe '83?). MTV singles were "What's He Got", "What She Does To Me" & "She Sheila".

The Producers were from Atlanta and I saw them play on several occasions, the last being their "Farewell Tour" at the Exit/In here in Nashville in the 90's. I spoke with Wayne Famous (keyboardist) before the show and he said that they were giving up after trying for success over a period of about 20 years.... which was rather depressing.

RE: Icehouse - I loved the band, particularly Iva Davies' voice. He did the soundtrack to the Australian horror film: Razorback (about a giant killer pig on the loose). Silly story, but his music was excellent - sort of an ambient Icehouse.

[sisterlondon]

The Politics of Dancing! Oh my, I LOVED that song! I still have the video on a tape somewhere!

[Melaszka]

Ah, yes, "the politics of ooh feeling good" - I'd completely forgotten that song, and the Icehouse one, but they've come flooding back. Where did all these guys go?

[Astronaut]

Does anyone remember The Mobiles - "Drowning in Berlin" (1981) ?

[krausy]

All great nominations by the way!!!!

A group of us over at the BC site were talking about The Producers just the other day---one guy is trying to find any of their albums on cd, if anyone here knows where one can be acquired, let me know.

Icehouse was definitely great--in fact alot of bands out of Australia, New Zealand are very underated.

my nominees:

Split Enz/Neil Finn
The Divinyls
Big Country
Aztec Camera/Roddy Frame
Squeeze

There's mine----and I 'm sure someone else will name the ones I have forgotten to mention..........

[Lady Arcadia]

It was sooo good to see Icehouse mentioned. They were a wonderful band, Iva Davies got induced into the Oz Music Hall of Fame a couple of years back, it was great to see that!

Icehouse really exist in name only, Iva does solo stuff, including soundtrack work (one of his more recent ones was Master and Commander - the Russell Crowe movie!)

All Icehouse CDs are available on reissued/remastered, with plenty of bonus tracks, including some live numbers! Recommend purchasing!!

My list of most underrated bands....

1. First off, would have to be Japan, because besides places like this on the net, very few people remember the band. And it is a shame, they are one of the best things to come out of the UK!

2. Arcadia. Everyone remembers Power Station (might have been the JT thing there). Their only LP is just timeless, could you imagine what a follow up to that would have been like, if we didn't get Notorious???

3. Giant. You can't go past them for go old heavy/hard rock (the real 80s hair metal kinda thing). Unfortuately for them, they arrived on the scene a little too late, - grunge finished them off. Very little can beat Dann Huff's guitar playing.

4. And I definitely agree with the Icehouse comments. Down this part of the world, he could be best described as the Australian David Sylvian. Soo much talent, but just not getting the fame etc that he rightly deserves.

[Lady Arcadia]

Icehouse was definitely great--in fact alot of bands out of Australia, New Zealand are very underated.

As a Kiwi, I couldn't agree more... some Kiwi Bands that should have made the big time.

1. Goldenhorse
2. Hello Sailor
3. Dragon
4. Street Talk
5. Sharon O'Neill
6. Phil Judd as a solo artist - he is the best!! And darkest around!!
7. The Mockers

I could go on forever... unfortuately most of these bands are their own worst enemy when it comes to success.

[John Trevethan]

A group of us over at the BC site were talking about The Producers just the other day---one guy is trying to find any of their albums on cd, if anyone here knows where one can be acquired, let me know.

Their CDs are listed on Amazon.com here.

my nominees:

The Divinyls

I loved The Divinyls first record, especially "Boys In Town".

[heartofdavid]

... some Kiwi Bands that should have made the big time.

How about The Chills?

[girl about town]

Hello,

Great subject for a discussion Melaszka!

I think Japan could come under the category of underrated bands. I also think XTC were pretty much overlooked, they too, like Japan were something a bit different. Although they had some chart success they are a band that are not cited very often.

Come the revolution and the masses shall develop some taste in music!